Overview

This course will encourage you to explore how the various forms of communication that shape your everyday life operate differently in German-speaking contexts.

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This course, combining international media and communications studies with degree-level study in German language and culture, is open to beginners in German as well as post-A level students. Beginners’ German students follow an intensive language course designed to take them to degree level within four years, while post-A level students take language classes at an advanced level. Absolute beginners, GCSE, AS (all beginners’ pathway), or A level students (advanced pathway) in German are warmly invited to apply. All students graduate with the same degree.

This course enables you to develop your German language skills while learning about the theory and history of communications in a global context. You will have the option to cover a range of subjects such as the social role of the mass media, communications theory, inter-cultural communications, and cultural studies. You will divide your time equally between German and media and communications studies. At the end of the course, you will have a range of transferable skills, as well as advanced level German skills, an understanding of the international media and an in-depth understanding of German culture. Your international experience will help you to stand out as a graduate.

Year one

In German, the first year core language course develops the four skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. Beginners will work intensively on a structured language programme to enable rapid progress. In addition, you will take a core German Studies module introducing you to the study of German linguistics, literature, history and film. Post-A level German students will take further optional modules focusing on areas of German studies of their choice, including the option of beginners’ Dutch. In International Media and Communications Studies you will be introduced to cultural and communications theories, mass media and new media.

Year two

In German, your language studies will be developed to prepare you for the year abroad, as well as deepening your understanding of German history and culture. In International Media and Communications Studies you will explore issues surrounding public relations, political communication and global media, and news production. You will also receive specific research training in the area of culture, film and media in order to lay the foundations for your final year dissertation.

Year three

Your third academic year is spent in Germany or Austria doing one of the following:

Year four

The final year will allow you to consolidate the command of the German language obtained during your year abroad, as well as deepening your understanding of German literature, cinema and politics. Former beginners and post-A level students take the same German language classes, and graduate at the same level in German. Modules in International Media and Communications Studies will allow you to explore the political issues arising from, among other things, cultural policy and media coverage of conflict. You will also undertake a dissertation project under the close supervision of a member of staff with knowledge of your chosen area.

More information

Entry requirements

A levels: ABB, B in German A level, if applicable. No language qualification is required for the beginners’ pathway

BTEC: DDM

English language requirements

IELTS 7.0 (no less than 6.0 in any element)

If you require additional support to take your language skills to the required level, you may be able to attend a presessional course at the Centre for English Language Education, which is accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English in the UK.

Students who successfully complete the presessional course to the required level can progress onto their chosen degree course without retaking IELTS or equivalent.

Alternative qualifications

We recognise that potential students have a wealth of different experiences and follow a variety of pathways into higher education, so we treat applicants with alternative qualifications (besides A-levels and the International Baccalaureate) as individuals, and accept students with a range of less conventional qualifications including:

Access to HE Diploma

Advanced Diploma

BTEC HND/HNC

BTEC Extended Diploma

This list is not exhaustive, and we consider applicants with other qualifications on an individual basis. The entry requirements for alternative qualifications can be quite specific; for example you may need to take certain modules and achieve a specified grade in those modules. Please contact us to discuss the transferability of your qualification.

Modules

The following is a sample of the typical modules that we offer as at the date of publication but is not intended to be construed and/or relied upon as a definitive list of the modules that will be available in any given year. Due to the passage of time between commencement of the course and subsequent years of the course, modules may change due to developments in the curriculum and the module information in this prospectus is provided for indicative purposes only.

Typical year one modules

Introduction to German Studies

This year-long module provides an introduction to the study of German and is compulsory for most students of German. It covers the main fields of German Studies: literature, culture, history, linguistics, media and film. You will be introduced to the study skills required for academic study: critical and analytic skills, reading skills, presentation skills and writing skills. For this module you will have one 1-hour lecture and one 1-hour seminar each week working in small groups in addition to four hours of private study.

plus either:

German 1

Using up-to-date material from the German-speaking world this core module will help you improve your command of written and spoken German. Continuing with the four skills areas of A-level work (writing, reading, listening, and speaking) you will develop them further through a variety of exercises whilst gaining insights into contemporary German life, culture and politics. For this module you will have one 1-hour grammar lecture each week and three 1-hour tutorials per week where you will work in small groups usually led by German native speakers. In addition you are expected to undertake at least four hours of private study each week.

or

German 1 - Beginners

This core module is designed to take beginners in German to a level of written and aural comprehension, writing and speaking skills usually comparable to A-level standard. At the end of the module, you will be able to comprehend and respond to written and aural texts over a comprehensive range of current affairs, cultural and everyday topics and engage in everyday social conversation. In this module you will have four 1-hour seminars and one 1-hour lecture each week.

Academic Development

This module is designed to support first year students as they make the transition into degree level work. Students will gain skills in independent and collaborative learning with the aid of guided and self directed learning taks.

Plus either:

Media and Society

This module explores communication processes in an international context, outlining key imperatives—including technology, mobility, economics, space and time compression, cultural difference, ethics and conflict—that contribute to the way we understand each other across the highly mediated communications landscape. The module pays particular attention to transnational media texts and audiences and the emergence of what has been termed 'the network society'.

Cultures of Everyday Life

Our daily lives are filled with 'realities' and phenomena that exceed our abilities to account for them: we might order a headstone on the way to the supermarket or be captivated by a carrier bag blowing in the wind; we may spend much of our time bored or dreaming of winning the lottery. While we may take the idea of the everyday for granted, associating it with routine, familiar and repeated experiences, our everyday lives are, simultaneously, punctuated by the exceptional, the random and the disruptive. Traditional theoretical attempts to account for the everyday tend to overlook aspects of daily life that refuse system and order: sociology, anthropology, cultural and media studies, for example, deal with activities such as work and leisure but neglect the unique texture of everyday experience. This module thus emphasises the everyday world as fraught with difficulty (in terms of seeing, theorising and representing), and looks at a wide range of attempts to register daily existence, including the modernist novel, photography, film, time capsules, poetry, video diaries and comics.

or

Communication and Culture

This module surveys the field of communications theory and provides an introduction to the key methodologies and topics of cultural studies within the context of contemporary life. Students will be introduced to key theoretical approaches to the communications process and encouraged to develop literacies across a wide range of visual and written sources, including advertising, TV, and journalism. Students will also be encouraged to assess the gains and shortcomings of particular theoretical models and to consider the processes that obstruct and frustrate the ambition of establishing clear channels of communication. The module also introduces approaches to cultural studies through the following key themes: 'high' versus 'popular' culture; race and ethnicity; feminism, Marxism and postmodernism; and the internet.

Communication Technology

This module takes a detailed look at debates around the impact of new information and communications technologies such as the internet, digital TV, and mobile and wireless communications on processes of communication. The module emphasises the social, economic and political implications of information communication technology (ICT) adoption, such as the ongoing 'digital divide' between the information-rich and -poor. It also investigates issues surrounding human-machine interaction, exploring the reshaping of communication forms and practices together with notions of posthumanism and cyberbodies).

Reading German Literature I

In this module you will be introduced to the critical reading and textual analysis of German narrative literature and poetry from the late 18th century to today. You will study two mid-length narrative texts and a selection of poems which represent key phases and aspects of German literary and cultural development from ‘Goethezeit’ to the post-1945 and contemporary period. In analysing and discussing a range of texts and authors, you will be introduced to key concepts and techniques of textual analysis, to the structures of narrative and poetry, and to selected themes and developments in literary criticism. The module combines one 1-hour introductory lecture per week with in-depth study in small tutorial groups (one 1-hour tutorial per week), in addition you will undertake four hours of private study per week.

Reading German Culture

In this module you will learn to analyse short literary and popular texts (including film) which portray life in the metropolis Berlin and represent key phases in German historical and social development in the 20th Century: the 1920s, the immediate post war-period, post-unification Berlin. Exploring cultural representations of urban life the course will address key questions such as: How do textual perceptions of the ‘big’ city reflect attitudes towards relationships conditioned by class, gender and race? For this module you will have one 2-hour seminars each week in addition to four hours of private study.

Linguistics 1: The Sounds of German

This module investigates the sounds of German and how they can be described accurately (“phonetics and phonology”). Students will learn to transcribe German using the notation of the International Phonetic Association, and we will look in particular at aspects of German pronunciation that are hard to master because they are different to English or similar to French. We will also look at how foreign words (including English words) are integrated into the German sound system, and at regional variation in spoken German. Developing accurate listening and transcription skills will form a major part of the module. There will be a one hour lecture and a one hour workshop each week, in addition to four hours private study time.

Typical year two modules

Researching Culture, Film and Media

For this year-long core module you’ll spend two hours a week in lectures and workshops to become familiar with different methods for investigating research topics, including methods such as ethnographic, historical and textual study, and determining their suitability for different projects. You’ll investigate the interdisciplinary nature of film, television and media studies and demonstrate this knowledge by choosing your own research project and methods.

Plus either:

German 2

This core module consolidates your proficiency in the four skill areas of German Language 1 (writing, reading, listening, and speaking) in order to develop these further. Using contemporary material this module is also tailor-made to prepare you for the period you will spend in a German-speaking country studying, working or teaching. It includes German CV writing, interview preparations, presentations, translation from and into German and advanced grammar work. For this module you will be taught in small groups, usually by German native speakers. You will have one 2-hour seminar and one 1- hour grammar tutorial each week in addition to a minimum of four hours of private study.

or

German 2 - Beginners

This module will consolidate your proficiency in the four skill areas of the German language (writing, reading, listening and speaking) and develop these further. You will work with texts from newspapers and other sources, which will be used for discussion of translation issues and grammatical structures, linguistic analysis and textual comparison, oral presentation, and essay writing. The module will use texts that cover a broad range of general, journalistic and academic topics, as well as those that will help to prepare students for living, working and studying during their year abroad. You will have one 1-hour lecture and four 1-hour tutorials per week in addition to private study.

New German Cinema

Between the mid 1960s and the mid 1980s West German cinema rose to new national and international success due to the work of a number of young directors who were commonly perceived as representatives of a "New" or "Young" German cinema. This module will analyse selected films from this period. You will be introduced to the individual styles of different directors (Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders) as well as to their common thematic preoccupations. The analysis will aim to situate the "New German Cinema" within the contexts both of the development of the film industry and of contemporary social and political developments in West Germany. You will have one 2-hour seminar and one 1-hour workshop per week in addition to four hours of private study.

Media in Germany

The aim of this module is to explore the history of print and broadcasting in Germany from 1933 to the 1990s, and investigate the relationship between media content and culture. You will develop a foundation in the key concepts of media studies and gain insight into the connection of media and ideology. For this module you will have one 2-hour seminar per week in addition to four hours of private study.

Life and Demise of the GDR

This module investigates social developments in GDR society over four decades of communist rule and social changes in Eastern Germany after the demise of the GDR. Students will be introduced to the ideological principles which that the Socialist Unity Party attempted to legitimize in the GDR as the only viable alternative to fascism for a modern society. We will then look at how this ideology was enforced through state authority in every domain of society. Based on contemporary texts (e.g. GDR propaganda, GDR writers and other intellectuals) we will further examine how people negotiated their lives within these officially imposed ideological structures, exploring a range of individual responses from conformism to non-conformism and opposition. Finally we will look at a new kind of “public authority” during the Wende period in the GDR, which triggered the disintegration of communist power structures, and the subsequent changes in East German society. For this module you will have a one 2-hour seminar per week in addition to four hours of private study.

Political Communication, Public Relations and Propaganda

The module explores the evolution of political communication from the turn of the 20th century and considers its links to the emergence of modern public relations. Starting with the influential work of Edward Bernys, widely considered as the father of modern public relations, we will consider how PR has developed and how its tactics and practices have increasingly been co-opted by modern politicians. The module examines the promotional strategies employed by political parties in campaign cycles and during non-election periods, strategies sometimes described as news management and 'spin'. This module will also look at the history of modern propaganda campaigns from their early origins during the First and Second World Wars, through to more contemporary examples.

Cultural Politics

This module develops the political dimension of theoretical approaches to culture and communications. Looking at everyday forms and practices, it highlights ideological investments in questions of cultural value. Concentrating on race, class, gender, disability and sexuality as areas of inequality that shape, and are shaped by, cultural and communications practices, the module emphasises the power dynamics at play in processes of cultural production, consumption and control. The programme moves from macro to micro approaches to culture, beginning with broad questions around ideology, power and resistance and ending with the particulars of everyday strategies and tactics.

Understanding Cultural Industries

You’ll learn how show business is broken down into ‘show’ and ‘business’ in film, television and promotional industries and examine how creative decision-making, technology and legislation influence those industries. You’ll also learn about how advertising and market research influence the design and production of media in certain regions and how film and television industries have developed in different contexts and periods.

Translating Cultures

This module introduces students to the key concept of translating between cultures as part of inter-cultural communication. The commingling of national and regional cultures in the light of increased flows of people, goods, capital and information is rendering the study of the impact of cultural difference on communication indispensable. This is particularly so for management theory, advertising and marketing, public relations and international news. Using a range of examples and case studies, this module enables students to perform comparative analyses that isolate cultural effects on communication (for example, how does the same advert 'play' in collectivist as opposed to individualist cultures; how might 'high-context' communication in a Chinese context effect a business negotiation; or how might cultural differences around conceptions of truth challenge Western liberal principles of freedom of speech). The module seeks to balance the ideal of harmonious inter-cultural communication on the one hand, and the richness of cultural diversity on the other.

Transnational Media

You’ll learn about the concepts of ‘transnational’ and ‘postnational’ media, taking into account the movement and interactions of people, finance, technology and ideas around the world. The module addresses in particular global media interactions emerging from tensions between forces of cultural homogenisation and heterogenisation. You’ll develop a foundation of theoretical knowledge to be applied to case studies in global film, television and other screen and print media.

Cultural Analysis

This module focuses on concepts, theories and approaches explored in first year modules on the analysis of actual cultural phenomena. In the first half of the module we will look at a number of historically important cultural analyses, and in the second half of the module we shall concentrate on the analysis of contemporary culture. Students will be encouraged to understand various methods in cultural analysis (e.g. semiotic, sociological, aesthetic) and their relation to cultural critique (one of the forms analysis often takes) with a view to undertaking a cultural analysis of their own.

Typical year three modules

Your third academic year is spent in Germany or Austria doing one of the following:

This core module aims to consolidate the high level of language skills you will have acquired during the time spent in a German-speaking country in Year 3. You will further refine your advanced proficiency in written and spoken German, usually with support from a native speaker. Contemporary texts and discussions of up-to-date topics are a key feature of this module and you will be encouraged to build on the knowledge and skills acquired during your year abroad. For this module you will have two 1-hour seminars each week working in small groups in addition to four hours of private study.

Translation from German

This core module will enhance your practical command and effective understanding of written and German and English on the basis of your progress during your year abroad, through translation of a variety of German texts and passages. This module will develop your translation skills towards professional standards for translation into English. For this module you will have one 2-hour seminar each week working in small groups in addition to four hours of private study.

Culture and Society in the Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic (1919-1933) was one of the most fascinating and culturally productive periods of German history, but it was equally ridden by crises and violent conflicts. This module aims to introduce central issues in the literary and social developments of Weimar Germany. You will study a wide range of materials (literary texts, film, aesthetic and political programmes) to analyse key features of the period. Topics will include the impact of the Great War, developments in the press and the cinema, political confrontations, cabaret, and unemployment. You will have one 2-hour and one 1-hour seminar per week in addition to four hours of private study.

'Heimat' in the German Cinema

Heimat, a political and psychological concept of rural rootedness, is at the core of German identity, and the Heimat genre has been ever-present in the German cinema since the days of the silent cinema. This module will explore the cultural and historical contexts of the concept of Heimat through the study of Heimat films from different historical moments. We will explore the artistically ambitious and politically controversial 1920s/30s mountain films; the immensely popular Heimat films of the 1950s; the aesthetically challenging and critical anti-Heimat films of the 1960s/70s; Edgar Reitz’s landmark historical saga of the 1980s; and post-1990s reinventions of the genre. We shall ask why film-makers in Germany and Austria keep returning to this genre. In addition we shall consider the question of the alien within the Heimat, the gendering of Heimat and the representation of nature and modernity in these films. You will have a two hour seminar, a one hour syndicate workshop, a two hour screening, plus extensive independent study each week.

International Media and Communications Studies Dissertation

This module gives students the opportunity to work independently on a chosen subject area of their choice, with an appropriate supervisor.

Visual Culture

The major theoretical approaches to understanding images have included art history analysis, semiotics, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis. Each of these theoretical ways of ‘decoding’ images is explored by this course. The course asks how making affects meaning and how images can be seen as tools of critical theory in media culture. It looks at a wide range of images from fine art, photography, print media, television and film, science and advertising. The course covers many themes such as ‘what is an image?’, ‘what is the relation between language and images?’ ‘what is the relation between image and thought?’ It ends on the open question of what visual literacy might be and mean in a visual culture.

Contesting Culture

This module examines the contested nature of culture in a variety of contexts. Beginning with a definition of culture that includes the arts and media, but broadening out to consider cultural practices in a range of situations, the module asks the key questions: who defines and controls culture and for what purposes and, conversely, what kinds of opportunities exist for cultural and creative resistance?

Hearing Cultures: Sound, Listening and Everyday Life in the Modern World

This module introduces students to the cultural and social role of sound and listening in everyday life. Scholars have argued that, since the Enlightenment, modern societies have privileged sight over the other senses in their desire to know and control the world. But what of hearing? Until recently, the role of sound in everyday life was a neglected field of study. Yet Jonathan Sterne argues that the emergence of new sound media technologies in the nineteenth century — from the stethoscope to the phonograph — amounted to an 'ensoniment' in modern culture in which listening took centre stage. Beginning with an examination of the relationship between visual and auditory culture in everyday life, this module introduces a variety of cultural contexts in which sound played an important role, including: how people interact with the sounds of their cities; how new sound technologies allowed people to intervene in everyday experience; why some sounds (such as music) have been valued over others (such as noise); the role of sound in making and breaking communities; the role of sounds in conflict and warfare; and the importance of sound in film and television from the silent era onwards. We use a variety of sound sources, such as music and archival sound recordings, in order to understand the significance of sound in everyday life from the late eighteenth century to the present.

Self, Sign and Society

This module equips students with the theoretical tools needed to explore how social identity is both asserted and challenged through the deployment of signs broadly conceived. 'Sign' is understood here primarily with reference to Saussurean linguistics, and the impact of the structuralist and then poststructuralist movements on disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, psychoanalysis, semiotics, postcolonial theory, cultural studies and visual culture. How does our accent function as a sign of our class origins or cultural sympathies? Does skin colour always function as a social sign? How do the clothes we wear align us with particular lifestyles and ideological positions and how is this transgressed? How has the phenomenon of self-branding colonised our everyday lives? What does our Facebook profile say about how we would like to be read by the wider world? Does the logic of the sign itself exceed what we intend to do with it? How do the signs that construct a social 'self circulate in the context of new media? Are there psychological costs associated with living in this society of the sign? This module will address these and other related questions by introducing students to the approaches of thinkers such as Freud and Lacan, Saussure and Greimas, Barthes and Baudrillard, Levi-Strauss and Geertz, Derrida and Bhabha, and Mirzoeff and Mitchell among others.

Teaching Film and Media Studies for Undergraduate Ambassadors

This module is part of the nationwide Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme which works with universities to provide academic modules that enable students to go into local schools to act as inspiring role-models. Students split their time between the university-based seminar and their allocated school, where they are placed in an appropriate department as a teaching assistant. Students are required to design and deliver a teaching project aimed at improving pupil understanding of selected aspects of media studies. Students will be supported by the module convenor and the education specialist on campus, and by their contact teacher at their school. Typically there are fortnightly seminars and 7 half-days spent in school. Placements are in secondary schools and Sixth Form or FE colleges.

Public Cultures: Protest, Participation and Power

This module will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the relationship between public space, politics and technology. Drawing on research in a range of fields including: critical theory, cultural studies, cultural geography, digital studies, urban sociology and politics, it will give students an empirically focused account of debates the changing nature and uses of public space, with an emphasis on contemporary developments in urban environments. A range of protest movements will provide case-study material and offer a central focus for both theoretical and practical explorations of the role of new technologies in controlling space, resisting control and enabling new forms of civic participation.

The Blockbuster

You’ll examine a number of industrial and commercial contexts to answer the question ‘what is a blockbuster?’ and explore the phenomenon by learning where the term emerged and to what kind of films it has been applied worldwide across the history of cinema. The social value of the term will also be considered, and you’ll discuss the global dynamics of the blockbuster. You will spend six hours a week in workshops and seminars.

Year abroad

Your third academic year is spent in Germany or Austria doing one of the following:

Careers

You will have developed independence of mind and will be inclined to question the modern world in more detail. Your transferable skills will include the ability to critically analyse the media, communicate effectively, develop and sustain a reasoned argument, and produce independent research. The language skills you will have gained, particularly if you have spent a year abroad, will recommend you to employers.

Average starting salary and career progression

In 2015, 84% of first-degree graduates in the Department of Culture, Film and Media who were available for employment had secured work or further study within six months of graduation. The average starting salary was £19,378 with the highest being £36,000.*

*Known destinations of full-time home and EU first-degree graduates, 2014/15. Salaries are calculated based on those in full-time paid employment within the UK.

Careers Support and Advice

Studying for a degree at The University of Nottingham will provide you with the type of skills and experiences that will prove invaluable in any career, whichever direction you decide to take. Throughout your time with us, our Careers and Employability Service can work with you to improve your employability skills even further; assisting with job or course applications, searching for appropriate work experience placements and hosting events to bring you closer to a wide range of prospective employers.

Have a look at our Careers page for an overview of all the employability support and opportunities that we provide to current students.

Fees and funding

Scholarships and bursaries

The University of Nottingham offers a wide range of bursaries and scholarships. These funds can provide you with an additional source of non-repayable financial help. For up to date information regarding tuition fees, visit our fees and finance pages.

Home students*

Over one third of our UK students receive our means-tested core bursary, worth up to £2,000 a year. Full details can be found on our financial support pages.

* A 'home' student is one who meets certain UK residence criteria. These are the same criteria as apply to eligibility for home funding from Student Finance.

DisclaimerThis online prospectus has been drafted in advance of the academic year to which it applies. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate at the time of publishing, but changes (for example to course content) are likely to occur given the interval between publishing and commencement of the course. It is therefore very important to check this website for any updates before you apply for the course where there has been an interval between you reading this website and applying.